The New Orleans Saints made their first big free agency splash with Justin Reid, filling a clear position of need.
Reid's name is a familiar one, the younger brother of former LSU star Eric Reid and a Louisiana native. Count WWL Radio's Mike Detillier among the fans of the move.
"They need a safety and they need a young one," Detillier told Charlie Long on SportsTalk, "and so if you’re gonna put money, again, just like with Chase Young, you’ve got to put it in a younger player and so I’m glad to see this and I like this signing of Justin Reid.”
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The Saints' need at the position became even more clear with the departure of Will Harris to the Commanders in free agency. Reid's deal is for 3 years and $30 million, and he'll form a tandem with another former Chiefs safety in Tyrann Mathieu, who has spent the past 3 years in New Orleans. Reid effectively replaced Mathieu with the Chiefs, and Mathieu played with Eric Reid at LSU.
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Reid's last game with the Chiefs came in the Caesars Superdome, a Super Bowl 59 loss to the Eagles.
"So what you see here is some durability in Justin Reid," Detillier continued. "Really smart guy and you can tell the Saints, once it looked as though they weren’t gonna hit the corner that they wanted in Adebo and they were looking at some others in the NFL that they would hit the safety market, bring in a young safety who so far in his seasons in the NFL, which is six, he’s had 493 tackles.”
As of 5 p.m. Friday, Reid was the lone outside free agent to be linked to the Saints, though they had already made significant moves with extensions for both DE Chase Young and TE Juwan Johnson. The team also re-signed WR and special teams ace Dante Pettis, and swung a trade for former Patriots DT Davon Godchaux.